Au Pair Chatter

March 17 – St. Patrick’s Day – St. Patrick is said to have given a sermon from a hilltop that drove all the snakes from Ireland.  St. Patrick’s Day has been celebrated in the US since 1737.  Traditional icons of the day are the shamrock, leprechaun, the color green and the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. In Chicago, the city celebrates with a parade and the Chicago River is dyed green!

Here is a St. Patrick’s Day Event in our area:

Washington, DC St. Patrick’s Day Parade – Sun, March 13

Photo by Uwe Hermann

St. Patrick’s Day is observed on March 17, because that is the feast day of St. Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland.  It has become a holiday all around the world, where everyone can share in the fun and be Irish for the day.

Fun Ideas with the Kids

• Games
• Crafts
• Printable Activities & Coloring Pages

St. Patrick’s Day Recipes

Fun Facts

• The color green is also commonly associated with Ireland, also known as “the Emerald Isle.”
• One estimate suggests that there are about 10 000 regular three-leaf clovers for every lucky four-leaf clover.
• Legend says that each leaf of the clover means something: the first is for hope, the second for faith, the third for love and the fourth for luck.

As promised at last night’s meeting, I am posting some photos and links that will assist you in doing a few of the projects I have given you.

Newspaper Seedling Cups

Click on the photo below to go to a web page with step by step photos and directions for the seedling cup I showed you at the meeting.   If you have older kids and are looking for something more to do with them, there are lots of videos on YouTube of how to make these using all kinds of different techniques including some origami folds.

Newspaper Seedling Pot

Butterfly Craft

Click on the photo below to go to a web page with complete project instructions.

Butterfly Craft Project

Shamrock Decoration

Below is a picture of what the completed shamrock project might look like.  They can be decorated using paint, markers, crayons, glitter glue and stickers.

Shamrock Decorations

I hope you will use these ideas as a starting point to come up with lots of other fun projects and activities to do with the kids.

A St. Patrick’s Day Game
Pin The Shamrock on the Leprechaun

Supplies:
Big picture of a Leprechaun
A green shamrock, for each child, with adhesive on back and their name on the front
Blindfold

How To Play: Blindfold the player, spin ‘em around and let them try to stick the shamrock where it’s supposed to go. Give a prize for the player that gets the closest.

(from Kaboose.com)